As one of New York City’s warmest winters in recent years, now is the perfect time to head outside and enjoy the city’s newest public art installations. From Shahzia Sikander’s two-part sculpture collaboration Havah… to breathe, air, life at Madison Square Park and the Courthouse of the Appellate Division to Brookfield Place’s vibrant and colorful Pulse Portal installation, there is something for everyone to enjoy. This February be sure to check out the brand new edition of the Button & Needle sculpture in the Garment District and Rockefeller Center’s first entry for this year’s Art in Focus program. Here are the best public art installations to see in February 2023.
1. Anish Kapoor’s Reflective Sculpture at 56 Leonard
New York City now has its very own reflective “bean” sculpture, like the one in Chicago. Created by the artist Anish Kapoor, New York’s sculpture appears somewhat squished beneath the corner of 56 Leonard Street. The stainless steel sculpture is fully integrated into the structure of the Erzog and DeMeuron-designed residential building.
Sitting at the bottom of the building’s 60 stories, the sculpture, which is yet unnamed, weighs 40 tons and is 48 feet long by 19 feet high. Barricades around the artwork finally came down in January after five years of work. In a statement, the artist Anish Kapoor said of the piece, “The city can feel frenetic, fast and hard, imposing architecture, concrete, noise. My work, at 56 Leonard Street, proposes a form that though made of stainless steel is also soft and ephemeral. Mirrors cause us to pause, to be absorbed and pulled in a way that disrupts time, slows it down perhaps; it’s a material that creates a new kind of immaterial space.”
